A Canadian Population Survey on the Clinical, Epidemiologic and Societal Impact of Migraine and Tension-Type Headache

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Trained telephone interviewers contacted 1,573 adults across Canada about the nature and frequency of headaches suffered by them or by others in their households. Using a table of pain symptoms and other characteristics abstracted from the International Headache Society (IHS) classification, the headaches were assigned to migraine headache, tension-type headache or other diagnostic groups. Of the households sampled, 59% had at least one headache sufferer in residence. The proportion of headache sufferers with migraine was 14%; with tension-type, 36%; and with both, 14%. Migraine headache caused more disability than tension-type headache, with nearly 20% of migraine sufferers taking time off work and disability lasting for a mean of 1 day. It is concluded that the current prevalences of migraine and tension-type headache in Canada fall around the mean of previous studies, that the IHS criteria can form a basis for diagnostic classification and that the functional impact of migraine has been seriously underestimated in the past.

Has the prevalence of migraine and tension-type headache changed over a 12-year period? A Danish population survey

“…A relevant comparison might be to compare our prevalence of frequent episodic tension-type headache with the tension-type headache prevalence estimates in previous studies. This comparison reveals a high degree of concordance between our results and most previous findings [7,8,21,25,26]. Interestingly, the prevalence of frequent episodic tension-type headache increased significantly from 1989 to 2001.…”

“…The prevalence of tension-type headache in both the 1989 and the 2001 survey is remarkably higher than in most other population studies [7,8,21,25,26], where the prevalence estimates generally vary between 16% and 39%. No other known studies have repeated the assessment of the prevalence of tensiontype headache, and our survey is thus believed to be the first to report an increase in the prevalence of tension-type headache.…”

Cognitive function in tension-type headache

“…The epidemiology of TTH is not well-known relative to migraine, but the prevalence estimates tend to increase with age [3,36]. In general, 17.5% of the cohort who were headache-free at age 26 years went on to develop primary headache at age 32 years.…”

Primary headaches: Diagnosis and treatment

“…Estimates of the 1-year prevalence of tension-type headache vary widely in studies using the IHS criteria. These studies indicate 1-year prevalence in men to be from 28% to 63% and 1-year prevalence in women as 34% to 68% [3][4][5]. Different methodologic procedures may account for these contrasting reports.…”